The Compass
by Now-You-Dont-Or-Do-You
Summary: "So as he closed the door to the office, he decided he would like to find that out and figure out this closed-off woman." Wherein Maria Hill and Steve Rogers meet and Maria shows her soft side. One-Shot. Pre-Avengers. Maria/Steve


**This is from my CaptainHill headverse. Basically how Maria and Steve met.**

**I also apologize for my long absence. School can be a time-hogging butt. And I'm not going to go on and on with some bulls**t about continuing "I Need a Hero". I'm honestly not sure when that's going to be picked-up again. **

**You tell me if I should continue it.**

**Maxine**

**Disclaimer: Marvel characters are unfortunately not mine.**

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><p>Steve didn't know exactly where he was going. But he had been called to Deputy Director Maria Hill's office.<p>

And judging from the frightened looks he had been receiving from agents when asking for directions, he should've probably been in a hurry.

It had only been a few months after he had woken up. And he was still far from understanding basically everything.

Fury had contacted Steve a few weeks earlier saying that Hill and Coulson had been assigned as his modern society consultants. And so far, only Coulson had contacted Steve through phone.

Today he would meet his other consultant. Who had actually contacted the super soldier this morning from his apartment phone in Queens. (Steve wasn't ready to move back into Brooklyn yet.)

"Hi. This is SHIELD Deputy Director Maria Hill. Captain Rogers, if you have the time today at 3:30pm. I'd like to actually meet you face to face. Discuss a few things. Thanks." It had actually been a recorded message, as if she had recorded it previously and meant to send it to him when she had time.

After wandering aimlessly around the SHIELD New York Base for an hour, a grinning agent had walked up and offered Steve the way towards Deputy Director Hill's office.

She was a short woman. Confident, a bounce in her step and a constant crooked smile on her face. "Name's Remi Knight by the way, Captain." She remarked in a light, English accent as they entered a busier section of the base, more and more urgent looking agents scurried around them.

Remi chuckled as she took them all in. "Hard-ass Maria. Always scaring everyone into working. Doesn't even have to be around, just near."

She seemed to know a lot about the Deputy Director as well. She talked about Hill in the complete opposite way of how others had been talking about her. "Oh you'll like her, Captain. Don't believe the bullshit everyone else is saying about Maria. She's actually quite nice and endearing when you get to know her. I would know, we're close friends." The stormy-eyed woman muttered as they arrived at a door marked **Deputy Director Maria Hill.**

Remi shot Steve one more grin before turning on her heel and sauntering calmly away.

Uncertainly, Steve turned towards the door, raising his hand to knock, and jumped slightly when it swung open to reveal Maria Hill.

She raised a single, slender eyebrow and looked down the dim hall towards Remi's retreating form. She sighed, muttering something incoherent to herself before gesturing for Steve to come in.

The office was lit better than the hallway and Steve was able to finally distinguish Maria's features clearly.

She was slender, and tall. Her brown hair was in a tight, snug bun on her head and she wore the standard SHIELD cat suit. What most of the female agents around wore, except for Remi. She had been wearing a baggy, white hoodie, stamped with the SHIELD logo on the sleeve and old, black tights. Steve briefly wondered what she worked at.

At this point, Maria had turned back to face Steve, leaning against her desk. Her steely, pale-blue eyes took him in critically, her strong jaw clenched and her arms crossed.

"Captain Rogers." She was the first to speak, giving him a single nod and motioning for him to sit in one of the nearby chairs.

Steve gave her a tight smile, not able to let it reach his eyes. There wasn't exactly much to smile about these days..

"I'm Deputy Director Maria Hill. One of your modern society consultants as Fury put it." Her tone was slightly annoyed, but Steve couldn't see her face, she had turned to walk around her desk and settle into the chair.

"If it's a problem. I could just tell Fury." Steve quickly suggested politely.

Maria quickly shook her head. "Directors orders. I'm just.. Not exactly used to having a person depend on me like this." She grimaced slightly before they lapsed into a short silence.

"Well. Thank you." Steve muttered with another miserable try at a smile.

Maria gave him a half-smile back before speaking. "If you'd like to know why I called you here. I just wanted to officially meet you, settle a few things. It's not always the best thing to work with someone you haven't met before." That's when Maria reached towards Steve with one careful, pale hand. "Your phone?"

Steve quickly reached into his pocket, slightly fumbling with the flip-phone that Fury had given him before handing it to Maria.

The woman clicked on the buttons for a moment before nodding in satisfaction and closing the phone. "I'm on your speed dial 1 now. Agent Coulson is number 2."

At Steve's confused face Maria's emotionless, hard mask softened ever so slightly and she stood from her chair and walked around to explain speed dial to him.

"So if you'd like to know anything or if there's an emergency. Just contact me or Coulson." Maria finished before rolling her eyes. "Speaking of which. The only reason you haven't actually met Coulson is because he's scared."

"Scared?" Steve asked.

She nodded, a slight quirk to her lip. "He's a big fan." Was all she said before returning to her desk chair.

Another half hour passed in her office, straightening out Steve's arrangements in Queens, as well as his possible return to work with SHIELD.

"That's about it, Captain. I suppose you could go- No wait." Maria had only just leaned back in her chair when she seemed to remember something and shot off the chair to begin to rummage through her desk drawers. "I've, ah, actually got something for you."

Moments later Maria seemed to have found it in a cabinet behind her chair and pulled the dark, gold-like object out carefully, both hands cupped under it.

She turned and showed it to Steve, who was left in silent awe.

It was his compass.

"How did you find it?" Steve finally spoke after a moment, taking the compass from Maria and opening it. The metal was rusted a little around the edges of the compass but the glass seemed to have been restored and polished, Peggy's picture was covered with a new, protective piece of glass and the metal that should've been rusted, was actually polished and cleaned. But Steve handled it delicately nonetheless.

Maria had turned away silently, leaving Steve in his memories. She turned back to him and answered his question quickly, clipped, as if she wasn't sure how to handle a situation like this.

"The agents who had been put in charge of taking you out of The Valkyrie had found it near the steering wheel. Passed it on to Fury who had passed it on to me. He said I would figure what to do with it." She paused and shifted uncomfortably, her gaze at her hands on the desk. "I was going to leave it with you once you were buried officially. But when they found out you were alive," she motioned towards the compass, "I had it restored and reinforced."

Steve gave her a small, thankful smile and rested his hand over hers. "Thank you."

Maria gave him a minuscule smile, a quirk of her lips. "It was nothing." She muttered in response, stiffly pulling her hands away.

She hadn't been sure why she had done all of that for Rogers in the first place. But then Maria remembered her own childhood.

Everything that had ever held some sort of personal value to Maria had always been taken away and destroyed by her father.

She supposed Steve didn't deserve to suffer something like she did. He was too nice, too generous, too not deserving of having to go through an experience like being thrown 70 years into the future.

Something from the past could be a huge help.

Something must've shown in her eyes. Steve was looking at her, slight concern in his infinite, dark blues. "Are you alright Agent Hill?"

She smiled tightly at Steve in response and shook her head quickly, shifting her gaze towards her hands again.

"No one's really taken the time to do something nice like this for me lately." Steve spoke again. "Really. Thank you."

"Yeah." She muttered, raising her hand to gesture towards the door. "Um. I'll see you around Captain. Contact me whenever something comes up."

There was a silent moment as Steve stood, clutching the compass to his chest tightly. He smiled warmly at her again, "Will do Agent Hill." He responded.

The woman kept her gaze on a paper in front her and nodded.

At that moment, Steve wondered if Agent Hill really was as "nice and endearing" when you got to know her as Agent Knight had said in the hallway.

So as he closed the door to the office, he decided he would like to find that out and figure out this closed-off woman.

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><p><strong>Soo.. That's it basically. Review, Favorite. Thanks for reading(:<strong>

**Maxine**


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